Anon (FoGT) 24^III

Haki Kraki
hoddum broddum
særði mærði
seggi leggi.
Veitir neitir
vella pella
báli stáli
beittiz heittiz.

Haki særði leggi broddum; Kraki mærði seggi hoddum. {Veitir pella} heittiz báli; {neitir vella} beittiz stáli.

Haki wounded legs with pikes; Kraki (‘Pole-ladder’) honoured men with treasures. {The giver of costly materials} [GENEROUS MAN = Haki] was burnt on a pyre; {the squanderer of gold} [GENEROUS MAN = Kraki] was killed by a steel weapon.

Mss: W(116) (FoGT)

Editions: Skj AII, 217, Skj BII, 235, Skald II, 122; SnE 1848-87, II, 224-5, III, 159, FoGT 1884, 137-8, 275-6, FoGT 2004, 46, 72, 130-3, FoGT 2014, 28-9, 112-13.

Context: This stanza provides the Fourth Grammarian’s fourth example of antitheton. Here, as he explains, the first and fourth words of each couplet belong together, in such a way that two clauses are created in a cross-over pattern in each helmingr, making four independent clauses in the stanza as a whole, referring to two legendary subjects, the pirate or sea-king Haki and the Danish king Hrólfr kraki ‘Pole-ladder’.

Notes: [All]: In this ingenious stanza, in every line of which there is full internal rhyme, words 1, 4, 5 and 8 in the first helmingr form a clause, while words 2, 3, 6 and 7 do likewise. In the second helmingr the same combination of words (1, 4, 5, 8) form another clause referring to the subject of the first clause in helmingr 1 (Haki), while words 2, 3, 6 and 7 form a second clause with Hrólfr kraki as their subject. Following the pattern established in st. 23, the poet dwells on how these two heroes met their deaths. The same two subjects are also treated in st. 27 (q.v.). The dual rhyming subjects of Haki and Kraki may have been suggested by SnSt Ht 94, where they are also juxtaposed. The metre is inn nýi háttr ‘the new verse-form’, illustrated in SnSt Ht 73. — [1] Haki: Name of a famous pirate or sea-king. The name can be used generally in poetry for a sea-king, but here there is a specific reference to the brother of the legendary Hagbarðr. Haki is mentioned in Ynglinga saga chs 22-3 (ÍF 26, 43-5) as a fierce and bellicose warrior, who killed Hugleikr, king of the Swedes, at Fyrisvellir ‘Plains by the Fyrisån’ (Fyris river) near Uppsala, assumed the kingship himself, and was later engaged in a second battle at Fyrisvellir, in which he was mortally wounded and placed at his own request on a pyre on board a burning ship, which was pushed out to sea. Cf. Note to Anon (SnE) 16/1. A rather different account of Haki’s death appears in Saxo 2005, I, 7, 8, 1-6, pp. 476-80. — [1] Kraki ‘(“Pole-ladder”)’: Nickname of the legendary Danish king and hero Hrólfr kraki, who was the subject of numerous narratives, including Hrólfs saga kraka and the now lost Skjǫldunga saga. He was renowned for his generosity. Snorri Sturluson tells an elaborate narrative in Skm to account for the gold-kenning ‘seed of Kraki’ (SnE 1998, I, 58-9). Accounts of his and his champions’ deaths vary across the sources, but in all cases he dies in battle. — [5] neitir ‘the squanderer’: I.e. neytir, not neitir ‘denier’ (from neita ‘to deny’). The same word rhymes with hreytir ‘scatterer’ in st. 27/5. — [8] heittiz ‘was burnt’: Lit. ‘was heated’.

References

1. Bibliography
2. SnE 1848-87 = Snorri Sturluson. 1848-87. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar: Edda Snorronis Sturlaei. Ed. Jón Sigurðsson et al. 3 vols. Copenhagen: Legatum Arnamagnaeanum. Rpt. Osnabrück: Zeller, 1966.
3. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
4. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
5. SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
6. Saxo 2005 = Friis-Jensen, Karsten, ed. 2005. Saxo Grammaticus: Gesta Danorum / Danmarkshistorien. Trans. Peter Zeeberg. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Det danske sprog- og litteraturselskab & Gads forlag.
7. FoGT 1884 = Björn Magnússon Ólsen, ed. 1884. Den tredje og fjærde grammatiske afhandling i Snorres Edda tilligemed de grammatiske afhandlingers prolog og to andre tillæg. SUGNL 12. Copenhagen: Knudtzon.
8. FoGT 2004 = Longo, Michele, ed. [2004]. ‘Il Quarto Trattato Grammaticale Islandese: Testo, Traduzione e Commento’. Dottorato di Ricerca in ‘Linguistica Sincronica e Diacronica’ (XV Ciclo). Palermo: Università degli Studi di Palermo, Facoltà di Lettere e Filosofia.
9. FoGT 2014 = Clunies Ross, Margaret and Jonas Wellendorf, eds. 2014. The Fourth Grammatical Treatise. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
10. Internal references
11. 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Hrólfs saga kraka’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 539. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=73> (accessed 25 April 2024)
12. (forthcoming), ‘ Snorri Sturluson, Skáldskaparmál’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=112> (accessed 25 April 2024)
13. (forthcoming), ‘ Heimskringla, Ynglinga saga’ in Kari Ellen Gade (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 2: From c. 1035 to c. 1300. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 2. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=158> (accessed 25 April 2024)
15. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Anonymous Lausavísur, Stanzas from Snorra Edda 16’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 528.
16. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Snorri Sturluson, Háttatal 73’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1184.
17. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2017, ‘Snorri Sturluson, Háttatal 94’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 1203.